There are few announced and then publically canceled games that people long for a return of, more than PlatinumGames and Xbox’s Scalebound. The game, a beautiful and stylish character action title in a co-op setting with imposing dragons. The outcry from fans has been long-lasting, and largely unending, surely a sign for both Microsoft and PlatinumGames to at least contemplate the idea of returning to the project; so far, there’s been silence on the matter though with the two businesses failing to come together to revive the project. There has been public calls from PlatinumGames themselves to Xbox and it’s CEO Phil Spencer to revive the project, but the most recent communication out of Spencer wasn’t a positive sign, with the executive saying that there’s “currently nothing to say” about the matter.
Skip foward another month and VGC have managed to get some time with some of PlatinumGames’ leadership, ahead of the launch of Nintendo Switch exclusive, Bayonetta 3. Thankfully, VGC’s Andy Robinson pressed the company’s new CBO, Takao Yamane along with PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba and vice president Hideki Kamiya, about a host of key PlatinumGames related topics – the future of Scalebound among them. Firstly, Robinson asked the trio about Phil Spencer’s response to Platinum’s callout for the game’s revival, to thisYamane said, “Let me take this one, because if we let Kamiya-san answer this then I think he’s going to give away a little too much unnecessary information maybe! (Laughs) All I can say on record here is that, as PlatinumGames, we can’t comment or say anything about this.”
An interesting response if the game is in-fact dead, and Robinson sensed this too, so he pressed further, asking about why the sudden “no comment” style of responses were the latest messaging around the game, and whether it was reflective of a change in the status of the game. Kamiya replied to this one stating, “As I just answered, I am more on the development end of the company and as you know, I was on the dev team for Scalebound when we were going through the project initially. I was the director of the title itself. As a creator, I still have quite a lot of loving attachment to the project, to be honest with you, since the project is something that we started. It is what it is in terms of what happened… we started the project, and unfortunately, it got stopped. But I still do have that attachment to the project itself, and if there were ever a chance, it would be great to revisit the project and be involved with it once again. In terms of what Phil Spencer was saying, I’m not really sure where that reaction came from and what he was actually thinking… we’re not really sure, to be honest with you. But if in any way he has changed his mind in a positive way for us, then that’s something that we’re very happy about. “Personally”, it’s very positive from my own viewpoint.” He then proceeded to speak in English, saying “Phil! Let’s do it together again!” before laughing. Sadly according to Kamiya, PlatinumGames never received a response from Phil Spencer after their public-facing Twitter call-out.
Sadly we’re still in a wait-and-see space with regard to the future of Scalebound, but with PlatinumGames expressing their desire to return to the live service well despite the immense failure of Babylon’s Fall, hope remains there that one day we’ll be popping headphones on and jamming while flying atop deadly dragons at last.
